“Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:6

Prayer is to the spirit what breathing is to the body—and according to the apostle Paul, it should happen just as often.

Paul instructed us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) and to always be “continuing steadfastly in prayer” (Rom. 12:12; Col. 4:2).

If you’re like me, you see a world with so many issues, and people with so many concerns, you feel you should never leave the prayer closet!

It can be so overwhelming, in fact, that you may be reluctant to pray at all, not knowing where to start—let alone end!

God never intended prayer to be a burden.

Prayer is not a burden, but a burden lifter: “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).

God designed prayer as a way for you to invite Him to invade your space—as well as a way for you to invade His with the cares of your heart.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6

There is no situation, no family member, no government, no disease, no thing or person who is off limits or out of the reach of prayer.

Your place of prayer is your place of power.

How can you neglect such an incredible opportunity to transform your world? What simple step can you take right now to tap into this limitless source of power?

You’ve heard me say that you are always one decision away from living the life of your dreams—and today I’m telling you that you are just one thought away from accessing the power of heaven.

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
James 5:16

Prayer is simply a conversation with God; a conversation that takes place at the speed of thought. Yet before you can communicate—or commune—with your heavenly Father, you must first enter into His presence.

This too takes place at the speed of thought. An attitude of gratitude will transport you right into the very Throne room of your Creator—the Source of all you could possibly imagine, desire, or need.

Actively pursuing God’s presence—and deliberately inviting Him into yours—is one of the most precious privileges you have been given as a believer.

Prayer begins with setting your intention, and attention, on heaven.

Do you know what Google Hangout is?

It’s intended to be a place where friends log on and just “hang out” online as they do whatever they are doing in front of their computers.

In many ways, God’s invitation to us is to enter prayer like that—He invites us to hang out with Him. And that’s where a real lifestyle of prayer begins.

Prayer is as simple as practicing the presence of God.

In prayer, you have the ear of the Creator of heaven and earth—the One who said all things are possible if you believe.

Prayer gives you the confidence of knowing that you have His ear no matter what is concerning you—and that He has your ear whenever He has something to say to you.

It’s as much about the short breath prayers we lift up throughout our day—“Lord, help me through this,” “Father, touch that angry man with Your love and peace,” “Oh God, be with my child today as she takes her test,” “Please help my boss come to know You”—as it is attending prayer meetings or long sessions of intercessory prayer.

In addition to hanging out with Him, we can also “instant message” Him with whatever tweaks our heart at any moment of the day or night.

Prayer takes place at the speed of thought.

As you breathe out your requests before God in prayer, take time to breathe back in from the Spirit of God.

Listen.

Focus on the truth that God is right there with you in the moment.

Inhale His goodness and the grace you need. Release your concerns into His hands and breathe back in His peace and faith for what you face.

Out goes the anxiety; in comes His joy, confidence, and hope.

Prayer is saying, “God, You are here in this moment. You are here with me and promised to never leave me or forsake me. I trust You, Lord.”

Prayer pleases God more than any other discipline of our faith.

Why? Because God likes hanging out with us more than we could ever imagine.

Prayer is not a chore, although for many, that is all it may ever be—but it doesn’t have to be for you! And that is certainly not how it is intended to be.

You can transform prayer from a perceived duty into an exciting way of life.

Prayer fitness is much like physical fitness.

Everyone knows if you’re out of shape physically, you will go through a phase of real and painful struggle to get back into shape before enjoying the benefits and making healthy habits a lifestyle.

If you’re overweight, you will struggle through a difficult time of changing how you eat, disciplining your appetites, and making time to exercise every day before you will enjoy a stronger, fitter body.

So it is with prayer.

To build a stronger prayer life, you must discipline yourself to pray.

If your prayer life is out of shape, weak, and flabby, you will tire easily—you will get bored, discouraged, and perhaps a little sore.

Every time you do pray, however, you build stronger spiritual muscles.

It’s a matter of consistency.

Just like you wouldn’t expect to run ten miles if you’ve never run one—so it is with prayer.

Doing a little every day—rather than nothing at all—will cause you to do a little more and then a little more, every time you put on your tennis shoes or enter your prayer closet.

Here’s a simple prayer you can pray right now to jumpstart what I hope will become a life-transforming routine:

Lord, help me to exercise my prayer muscles. I trust Lord that You will bring me to a place of greater spiritual strength and power as I make time to pursue Your presence each and every day. Thank You for being my personal trainer as I endeavor to make this a priority and way of life. Amen.

Praying is the only way to pray.

When you begin to experience how prayer really works and what prayer actually does, you will want to make it a lifestyle.

Nothing beats talking with your heavenly Father in the comfort of His home, face-to-face, in His Throne room.

Prayer is the doorway between God’s home and yours.

His door is always open—is yours?

Never forget the unique privilege that prayer is: The privilege you have of practicing it in every moment and of carrying God with you into every situation.

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said,

“Prayer is an art which only the Holy Spirit can teach us. Pray for prayer. Pray until you can really pray.”

Whether you keep a prayer journal, pray over a set of Scriptures, or read from a series of proclamations, taking just fifteen minutes every morning to acknowledge Who is first in your life versus what, will transform your day.

We all need to take time every day to lay our requests before the throne of Heaven and listen to what God has to say to us.

We should take as much time to listen as we do to speak.

When you pray regularly and practice the presence of God wherever you go or in whatever you do, it will make the spiritual world as alive to you as the physical world—and that’s when life becomes a more exciting adventure!

“Prayer is an opening of the self so that the Word of God can break in and make us new.
Prayer unmasks. Prayer converts. Prayer impels. Prayer sustains us on the way.
Pray for the grace it will take to continue what you would like to quit.”
Joan Chittister

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”
Philippians 4:6-7 MSG

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been talking about the power of vision (you can listen to a replay of the two-part webinar series here). I’ve been stressing the importance of writing a vision for every area of your life (download a PDF guide to writing a 12-part vision here).

Although I talked in depth about each of these areas on the webinar—and go into greater depth regarding the eight areas of prosperity in The Prosperous Soul—I want to emphasize that, unlike what you commonly hear…

The aim is not about achieving a balance of input or output in all of these areas, but about aligning each area to God’s best intention for you.

It is interesting how often you hear the word “balance” as an important principle among success gurus, but how infrequently it is mentioned in the Bible.

In fact, the only references I have been able to find are in the book of Proverbs—the Bible’s book of success wisdom. These references all say something like this:

“A just balance and scales belong to the Lord; all the weights of the bag are His concern.”
Proverbs 16:11

Yet this verse isn’t about balancing the different priorities in your life—such as trying to find the right “balance” between home and work—but about being an honest merchant.

Is “life balance” a principle that the Bible overlooks? Or is it one that is inadvertently left out?

I believe the answer to both questions is “No.”

Simply put, God isn’t as concerned with “balance”—the idea of dividing your attentions evenly between the different realms of your life—as about wholeness, and more specifically, wholeheartedness.

As Robert Watson wrote it in his book, Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army:

Balance implies a static offsetting of forces. Children on a teeter-totter play at balance. They succeed when movement is arrested, when they are suspended, perfectly counterweighted. But that’s not something we can hope for in real-life problem solving. We can’t suspend things in space or time. We can’t stop change. What we need is to connect with something that accommodates change, that, in fact, transcends it. We don’t need to balance the fragments, to juggle all the separate people we imagine ourselves to be. We need to integrate them into a whole, moving in harmony with a transcendent, divinely connected purpose.

I believe God is lovingly concerned about your priorities, but not in “balance” with one another.

Your heavenly Father wants to make all of your priorities work toward your greatest good by making them all subject to one overriding priority.

In every area or realm of life, make pursuing God’s Kingdom and His righteousness your greatest priority—just as Jesus instructed in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

What does this mean on a practical level?

I’m glad you asked.

As human beings, we tend to fall into the ditch on one side of proper focus or the other; we become entirely consumed by our work or ministry to the exclusion of all else, or we get absorbed by whatever voice shouts the loudest in the present moment—what author Charles Hummel called “the tyranny of the urgent.”

To put it more simply, we are either too myopic or too scatterbrained.

When we make goals, they tend to be in one or two areas—such as career and finances—or we set no goals at all, putting us at the mercy of whichever way the wind is blowing.

When we do the first, we tend to succeed at work, but sacrifice our health or family to do it; when we do the latter, we tend to accomplish little or nothing that is important to us or connected with why God put us on the earth.

Be mindful of all of the realms of life, and then seek to establish the Kingdom of God by putting Jesus first in each.

The realms of life are really tensions along four axes (and eight planes):

1. Spiritual—Physical
2. Emotional—Intellectual
3. Vocational (or “Calling”)—Financial
4. Relational—Reputational

These represent four sets of near polar opposites (or opposite ends of a continuum), however we need each in our lives to have the full and abundant life God wants for us.

The person who focuses on their physical world to the exclusion of the spiritual is missing the key element of the miraculous; the person who works for financial gain in an unfulfilling profession will find only emptiness in their career.

On the other hand, the person who follows the calling of their heart to the exclusion of having finances enough to care for their family, or live generously, will fall short of being the provider and blessing they should be.

It’s not a question of finding a balance, but of finding a place of wholeness where the will of God in each realm is fulfilled. 

Seek the will of God in each area—seek to prosper in every area in accordance with the purposes of Heaven.

True life-wholeness and abundance is achieved by seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness in everything you do and pursue.

“When you decide to serve God with your whole heart and make Him first in your life, your soul will prosper and your joy and peace will increase.”
—Joyce Meyer

As the soul goes, so goes your life, and that is when you will begin to fully realize God’s will in every area.

It’s about wholeness: Integrating the fragments of all the different people we imagine ourselves to be into one Kingdom-minded whole.

The only way we can do that is to live by His strength, relying on His grace for every need. We do it by being fully present in each moment.

God doesn’t want you to live a life of balance between all the realms of life: He wants you to live fully in each and prosper.

Look at each realm and capture a picture of what God wants for you by writing down what the Holy Spirit shows you: What goals does He want to see achieved in each? How would the abundant life Christ spoke of actually look and feel in every area?

Download the PDF guide to writing a 12-part vision and prayerfully ask God to show you a picture of how His will in each of those areas would look in your life.

And then, dare to embark on an epic journey to a richer life by getting your copy of The Prosperous Soul.

“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more importantly, it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”
—John O’Donohue

What priorities are hindering your prosperity?

This is the year of the history maker—and it all starts with putting first things first.

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.“
Psalm 1:2-3

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can…begin it;
boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Welcome to 2016—the year of the history maker! If you joined me for Part One of “Developing a Dynamic Vision for Your Life,” you learned that history is only made by those who dream.

And now—at the dawn of a new beautiful year—is the time to dream big!

Now is the time to take the blank canvas of the year ahead and harness the power of your imagination—combined with the limitless potential of infinite possibility—and dream of a future history you can begin to help paint.

Dream of the impact you could make on the lives around you; the next generation that is always watching and learning from your example…let alone the value you add every day to your profession, field, practice, market, or industry.

That is how history is made. It begins in the incubator of your imagination and is birthed through the canal of a clear and compelling vision.

“The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision.
It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.
You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.”
—Theodore Hesburgh

Author Kenneth Labich states that we should not “underestimate the power of a vision,” using McDonald’s founder, Ray Kroc, as an example: “Kroc pictured his empire long before it existed, and he saw how to get there. He invented the company motto—’quality, service, cleanliness, and value’—and kept repeating it to employees for the rest of his life.” 

“The empires of the future are empires of the mind.”
—Winston Churchill

Forbes staff writer, Jenna Goudreau, reported on what husband-and-wife duo Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield discovered after interviewing dozens of top performers for their book, The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It So Well.

Sweeney and Gosfield found that the predominant characteristic of everyday history makers is “dedication to a vision.”

History makers not only must have a vision, but they must whole-heartedly dedicate themselves to that vision—they must perpetually hold the vision. They must craft a compelling enough vision that it draws—or drives—them irresistibly toward it like a magnet.

Super-achievers are dedicated to their vision day in and day out. Philippe Petit, famous for his high-wire walk between New York City’s Twin Towers, dedicated himself to the feat before he was even an accomplished wire walker. He stuck with it until he’d accomplished his goal.[1]

History makers are the trendsetters, envelope pushers, risk takers, record breakers, glass-ceiling crashers, and boundary busters. They are the pioneers. They are able to accomplish never-achieved-before goals only because they are captivated—we might even say, “consumed”—by a dynamic vision.

Not all visionaries make history, but all history makers are visionaries.

And of those history makers, all are leaders. You must see yourself as a leader if you are to take a vision God has given you and bring it to completion. Look at Noah, Moses, Abraham, Joseph, David, and Daniel, just to name a few Old Testament history makers.

It’s one thing to write a vision, yet another to run with it—to faithfully go the distance with the vision you’ve been inspired to create.

“To grasp and hold a vision,
that is the very essence of successful leadership”
—Ronald Reagan

Yet a vision must not only be clear and compelling enough to hold your attention—or intention—over the long haul of completing it, a history-making vision must also create value.

In order for a vision to make history, it must add value to the lives of people—it must be value driven. Look at the values that drove Ray Kroc’s vision: Quality, service, and cleanliness; Walt Disney’s: “To make people happy”; Sam Walton’s: “To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people; and Coca Cola’s: “To refresh the world.”

History-making visions, in other words, are what authors Marci Shimoff and Debra Poneman call “soul based” rather than “ego based.”

According to Shimoff and Poneman, a soul-based vision seeks to create value for others, as opposed to an ego-based vision that seeks only to serve one’s self. An ego-based vision may be very compelling to you, but it won’t make history.

The type of vision that makes history is expansive, broad, service-oriented,
and focused on the greater good.

So let me ask you, “How will you add value to the world around you in 2016?”

What is your value-added proposition for the next twelve months? How will you honor God with your time—with your life—in the year ahead? What is that mark you plan to leave that will bring Him glory on the earth even after you’ve left it?

You know you were born for a purpose: A certain hope and future (Jer. 29:11), for such a time as this (Esther 4:14), to be strong and carry out great exploits (Daniel 11:32).

God says,

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”
John 15:16

So begin this year with the end in mind.

What kind of fruit do you plan to produce? At the end of this year, say by Thanksgiving, what will the harvest of your daily pursuits look like? What will be flowing out of the cornucopia of your life that will bring great honor and glory to God—and give you great cause to rejoice and give thanks?

“Big thinking precedes great achievement.”
—Wilferd Peterson

Think big, envision great achievement, and then live into that greatness by becoming the person you need to be for that dream to come to pass. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians:

“Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil. Therefore do not be foolish and thoughtless, but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is concerning you” (Eph. 5:15-17).

Be wise, not foolish. Be circumspect, not thoughtless. Be diligent, not wasteful.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Proverbs 90:12

In other words, don’t waste one minute of this precious life. Don’t thoughtlessly let one day of this next year pass you by. Harness every moment of time you’ve been given for the greatest good you can produce.

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.
Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be.
Your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”
—James Allen

Now, I invite you to join me for Part Two of Developing a Dynamic Vision for Your Life. There is nothing more transformative than learning how to leverage the power of a compelling vision.

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”
—John Scully

Don’t begin 2016 with another list of resolutions, but by developing a dynamic vision!

This week, I challenge you to determine your value-added proposition. Consider how you might add value in all your spheres of influence: Your marriage, your family, your neighborhood, your community, your church, your workplace, your trade or profession, your business or industry. What are the strengths you bring to each area, and how can you capitalize on those strengths to make history.

“A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved.
He inspires the power and energy to get it done.”
—Ralph Lauren

Next week, we’ll talk about how to make that happen over the course of the year—how to take your value-added proposition and turn it into a clear and compelling vision that will focus your energy on creating transformational outcomes.

Remember, a history-making vision must be clear, compelling, and create value—and so must you!

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”
—Seneca

Get clear on where you want to go, and then lead your life in that direction by creating extraordinary value.

To your history-making success! Looking forward to creating a legendary life with you in the year ahead!

“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg;
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.
Dreams are the seedlings of realities. “
—James Allen

[1] http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fdim45ejmk/dedication-to-a-vision

“The greatest tragedy in life are people 
who have sight, but no vision.”
—Helen Keller

At the end of every season—we often find ourselves in a calm after the storm, or that eerie quiet before a new one hits.

Take time to catch your breath this week, to purposefully rest, reflect, and re-evaluate. As you regroup and prepare for a new week, pause to ask yourself if this is where you want to be one year from today.

Your New Year can start right now: Re-envision how your life might look twelve months from now. Your ability to imagine something different is proof that more is possible. 

A vision is God’s way of telling you there is more to life.

And without a vision, you’re not really living at all. Solomon, known as the wisest man who ever lived, wrote that “without a vision, people perish.” Why? 

Because without a vision, your life is directionless—and without a clear sense of direction, you “cast off restraint.” That is how another translation interprets Solomon’s words; simply put, you self-destruct. 

Vision brings the clarity and direction you need to 
grow, thrive, and succeed. 

Vision is perhaps the single most important spiritual force that not only shapes our lives, but also shapes our world. By it, lives are enhanced, purpose is actualized, and potential is maximized.

Click here for a free instant MP3 download: Gaining a Vision for Your Life

Winston Churchill said, “History will be kind to me because I intend to write it.” Write your vision this week for the history you intend to make throughout this coming year…and share it on Facebook with #HistoryMakers2016!  

Do you know the secret to fulfilling all of your heart’s desires?

Not only is it simple, it’s easy. Not only is it easy, it’s joyous!
The Bible says if you “take delight in the Lord, He will give you your heart’s desires” (Psalm 37:4 NLT).

I don’t know about you, but I plan on delighting in the Lord all I can! I plan on praising and thanking Him and acknowledging Him in all of my ways. I look for opportunities to sit in His presence and converse with Him, rest in Him, press into His wise counsel, and lean on Him when things get rough.

Allowing our Heavenly Father to bring us delight is what delights Him most. It is a demonstration of our trusting in Him.
It is how we stir up our faith. And you know “it is impossible to please God without faith!” (Hebrews 11:6)

There is no other way to please God than delighting in Him.

It is the path to not only fulfilling our hearts desires, but of sanctifying those desires themselves. God will not just give us what we want; He will make us desire what He wants so that following Him is that much more joyful and fulfilling.

So simple. So true. So profound.

Look for ways to delight yourself in the Lord, and the Lord will look for ways to delight your heart! It’s that simple.

Psalm 37:4–5 AMP: Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.